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Vector Linux Light 7.1 is released and available for download. A big "Thank You!" goes out to all the contributors and testers who helped make this possible.

The "lightness" of this version is relative to our Standard version, and is achieved by using the lightweight IceWM window manager in place of the XFCE desktop environment. You may also choose barebone X-windows with just TWM. Otherwise, the base system and installation experience is the same as Standard.

IceWM is old school. It uses a manual approach, much like a stick shift instead of an automatic transmission. It doesn't change unless you tell it to. Configuration is managed by editing plain text files. To make things easier and get you started, some of the most common tweaks are also scripted and controllable by a GUI app.

Target audience consists of those who like and prefer IceWM, owners of older computers, and users who want a minimal, yet functional, starting point for their own creation.

The VectorLinux team is proud to announce the final release of VectorLinux 7.1!
This release is the culmination of years of work to make our distro the standard which all others hope to achieve.
We have successfully developed an easy to use installer that can be used in both gui and text mode depending on
the hardware involved that requires very little user intervention to achieve a successful installation of the system.
We have completely automated our internal package system so that all packages are constantly up to date and patched as necessary.
The system is available both in 32 bit and 64 bit versions and features the
latest linux 3.18.16 LTS kernel. We use the latest Xfce as our GUI desktop with Fluxbox as an alternate if the user is so inclined.
The repo contains the bigger systems like KDE and thousands of other programs
easily installed thru the tried and true Gslapt/Slapt-Get installer.
We hope you find that the blend of programs included in the standard install to be best of breed and covers all the day to day tasks
that a user expects of his/her system and maybe some unexpected extras. Lastly I would like to thank our small but very dedicated team
of developers for making this a reality for all to enjoy!!!

For those adventurous enough to give our baby a try here are the iso download links:

The main desktop is based on Xfce-4.8 with a custom theme and artwork unique to us. All the VectorLinux trademarks are included: DVD playback, Audio and Video Codecs, Multimedia and Java plugins are installed and working out of the box. The best of the Open Source world is included: Gimp, Inkscape for Graphics; Firefox, Opera, for Internet Browsing; Pidgin and Xchat for instant messaging; brasero for CD burning; Mplayer, Exaile for playing most available media formats. The office applications are Gnumeric, Abiword and Epdfviewer.

Wireless networking has been extended with updated drivers and firmware, Wicd has been employed to manage wireless and non wireless networking. UFW is included for firewall protection and there is added support for several webcam makes and models.

A special "Thank You" to the testers that helped during the development phase.

The final release of VectorLinux 7.0 SOHO is now available. This release is built on the 7.0 GOLD release featuring the recently released KDE4.8.3 desktop experience. VectorLinux is the fastest Linux desktop in it's class bar none. We have spared no expense to bring the KDE4 desktop to the Linux community in a unique fashion that is best tried to see KDE4 at its most awesome potential. With the custom artwork, visual tweaks and a little Vector magic, behold SOHO as you have never seen it before.

All the VectorLinux trademarks are included: DVD playback, Audio and Video Codecs, Multimedia and Java plugins are installed and working out of the box. The best of the Open Source world is included: Gimp, Scribus, Inkscape, Geeqie and Shotwell for Graphics; the latest Firefox and Opera for Internet Browsing; Pidgin and Xchat for instant messaging; K3B for CD burning ; Mplayer, UMplayer, Xine, VLC and Amarok for playing most available media formats. The office application suite is handled by the latest LibreOffice. Xfce4.8 and Fluxbox are also included to round out the desktop choices.

Wireless networking has been extended with updated drivers and firmware. Wicd has been employed to manage wired and wireless networking. Ufw with the Gufw GUI is included for firewall protection. Added support for several web cam makes and models.

The Kernel is version 3.2.6 and there have been improvements in installation, usability and hardware support. We believe this release will fulfill all the hardware requirements of even the most modern equipment.

A special "Thank You" to the testers and packagers that helped during the development phase to make this release a reality. We also have a special first, for any Vector release, a promotional video highlighting all the good in SOHO produced by our very own Stretchendthin from the development team. Please watch and enjoy the video below this post. Thank you to the entire development team for all your hard work and dedication !!!

Vector Linux 7.0 Light is completed and released!
Thank you to all the developers, testers and contributors who made this possible.

The term "Light" is relative. This 4-in-1 version gives you the choice of several window managers, in progressively heavier configurations. These are layered on top of the VL 7.0 Standard base, so the expected libraries, toolkits, compilers and codecs remain available.

For those who want a starting point for their own customized desktop, there is the "Barebone" option. It is managed by the super-lightweight JWM, without much fluff. Netsurf, a small and speedy web browser, gives you access to the power of the Internet. Use the included build tools and package manager to download and install the programs of your choice. This configuration has been tested on a Pentium 3 with 128 MB of memory.

The next level up is "Light". If you have used VL6 Light, you will find it very familiar. IceWM and PCManFM-mod power the desktop without consuming a lot of resources. The window manager is "all manual", with extensive options for customization. Indicative of the lightweight applications included are Midori (web browser), Sylpheed (email), flburn (cdrom burning) and wicd (network management). Dynamic mounting of removable drives is accomplished using udev (no hal). This setup works well with 256 MB of RAM.

For more powerful computers, the "Medium" option is a good choice. This gives you the Openbox window manager, fbpanel with a dynamic menu, and PCManFM to handle the desktop and file management. Full size applications include Firefox 11, Abiword and Gnumeric. Samba is installed for those who need to share files with Windows computers. We recommend a 1 GHz or better CPU and 512 MB of RAM for this option.

At the high end you get the full LXDE software suite, on top of everything in "Medium". This desktop environment keeps up with the times, while maintaining a user interface that many of us have grown accustomed to over the years.

Known issues and recommendations:
The text installer is showing its age. You will see some warning messages flash by as you install. These are safe to ignore. It may appear to stall at 99%, that last percent includes configuration scripts and takes a while. Watch the hdd light for activity.

The auto-configuration of X is very good. Try running without an xorg.conf. If you need a manual setup on a laptop, you may get better results with the standard mouse driver, rather than choosing "enable touchpad".

The final release of VectorLinux 7.0 (code name 'GG') is now available. This release is the result of nearly two years of blood sweet and tears since the very successful release of VectorLinux 6.0. With the enthusiasm of a small group of packagers, our repository now hosts over a thousand up to date packages. VectorLinux is the fastest Linux desktop in it's class bar none. We have exceeded our original goals of VectorLinux 7 and produced a beautiful, full featured stable desktop that is fun, fast and efficient.

The main desktop is based on Xfce-4.8 with a custom theme and artwork again unique to VectorLinux. FluxBox is installed as a secondary desktop option. Much work has been done on localization and we know users from all over the globe will find VectorLinux usable in their language of choice.

All the VectorLinux trademarks are included: DVD playback, Audio and Video Codecs, Multimedia and Java plugins are installed and working out of the box. The best of the Open Source world is included: Gimp, Inkscape, Geeqie and Shotwell for Graphics; the latest Firefox and Opera for Internet Browsing; Pidgin and Xchat for instant messaging; Brasero for CD burning (K3B is available in the repo); Mplayer, UMplayer, Xine and Exaile for playing most available media formats. The office applications are Gnumeric and Abiword (Libreoffice and many others available in the repo).

Wireless networking has been extended with updated drivers and firmware, Wicd has been employed to manage wireless and non wireless networking. Ufw with the Gufw gui is included for firewall protection and there is added support for several webcam makes and models.

The Kernel is version 3.0.8 and there have been improvements in installation, usability and hardware Support. We believe this release will fulfill all the hardware requirements of even the most modern equipment.

A special "Thank You" to the testers and packagers that helped during the development phase to make this release a reality.

There is also a live version of the current release which allows for pretesting the viability of the release on an individual basis. We are currently testing a 64 bit version of VectorLinux 7 that has reached the beta stage check our forum for progress.

You can download the VectorLinux-7.0 iso from our official servers here:

The Vector development crew is proud to announce the first release candidate of VectorLinux 7.0. There have been numerous changes since the beta 2.1 release. The kernel is version 2.6.38.4, glibc is 2.13 and everything else is up to date with Slackware-13.37. We have the new xfce-4.8.1 with glx-dock (previously cairo-dock), latest abiword, gnumeric, scribus, inkscape, shotwell and a vast array of other programs in all categories at their latest stable versions.

We have squashed major bugs that occurred during the second beta cycle, which includes updates to the kernel, firmware, vasm, gdm, vector artwork, consolekit and some minor theme changes. We have added the ability to build archlinux packages in slackware format in both the abs and aur with a special script unigue to VectorLinux. We also added over 500 packages to the Vector 7 repository including latest kde4, gnome-2.3, lxde, and E17. Please give this a try and report problems or bugs to our forum site. There is now available a live cd version of the latest VectorLinux 7 release for those that want to try before you buy.

You can download the VectorLinux-7.0-RC1 iso from our official servers here:

The VectorLinux development crew is proud to announce the release of
VectorLinux-6.0-SOHO-Deluxe.

The SOHO DELUXE release is based on the KDE-4.5.0 plasma desktop and latest
xfce4 as a secondary desktop.Updates from the public release include KDE-4.5.0,
Digikam-1.4.0, the gimp-2.6.10, k3b-2.0, scribus, OpenOffice, amarok 2.3.1,
kmymoney, gnucash and additional games and system updates. Kernel version is
2.6.31.11 which adds new wireless network possibilities. There have been speed
and stability improvements. The GUI installer has seen futher refinements and
is the default installer. Support has been added for a wider range of graphic
chipsets and both lilo and grub2 bootloaders. The latest versions of Firefox,
Opera and SeaMonkey browsers are also included. X.org updated to version 7.4 to
expand the useable hardware base for SOHO.

SOHO Includes out of the box multimedia support so that all of the popular
formats play without the need for searching for third party downloads.There is
a new set of custom graphics from the bootsplash to the wallpaper provided by
our own artist extraordinaire Masta.

The Deluxe version is available as a high speed download two CD set, or as a
packaged two CD set that is shipped to your mailbox. This is your chance to
support VectorLinux in a financial fashion that shows your appreciation for the
endless hours of hard work the developement team has put in to bring you
another great release. You can order the packaged set or download versions from
the Vectorlinux website. We hope you enjoy our labor of love and thank you for
your support.

The VectorLinux development crew is proud to announce the final release of
VL-6.0-SOHO. The SOHO project is VectorLinux for the small office or home
office (thus SOHO) as such is larger than our other releases. The challenge
is to keep SOHO as fast and as stable as the rest of the Vector family and
we think we have met that challenge!

The SOHO final release is based on KDE-4.4.2 plasma desktop with many
graphical and system enhancements. We have included all the productivity
software one would need like Digikam, the gimp-2.6.10, k3b-2.0, scribus,
OpenOffice and Inkscape to name a few. The kernel is version 2.6.31.11
which adds new wireless network possibilities along with greater speed and
stability. The GUI installer first introduced in the VL standard 6.0 release
has seen futher refinements and is the default installer. Support has been
added for a wider range of graphic chipsets and both lilo and grub2
bootloaders. Importing user accounts from previous installs is now possible
provided a seperate home partition is used. The latest versions of Firefox,
Opera and SeaMonkey browsers are also included. X.org has been upgraded to
version 7.4 to expand the useable hardware base for SOHO.

We have included out of the box multimedia support so that all of the popular
formats play without the need for searching for third party downloads to play
a certain format. We also have the latest amarok 2.3.1 for your music
appreciation.

Please note that our DELUXE SOHO release will be available for purchase in
about 10 days to allow for any last minute bug fixes that may show from our
public release. The DELUXE version will be available as a high speed download
or as a packaged two CD set via snail mail. You can preorder the packaged set
from the order links on the website. We will announce the DELUXE release on
our forum and website so stay tuned.

The Vector Linux team is happy to announce the release of VL6.0 KDE-Classic-Live.

KDE 3 veterans will appreciate that this release retains the solid KDE 3.5.10. There are many updates compared to the original, install only release. The Live-installer has been improved. Live mode makes it simple to test compatibility with your hardware before committing to a permanent installation.

KDE-Classic is configured with full web and multimedia capabilities out of the box. Firefox has all the plugins that Vector Linux users are used to; Flash 10, Mplayer and Java. Further functionality from VLC and Xine ensures that you will be able to handle all common audio and video formats. Amarok is ready for your music collection. The King of CD/DVD burning, K3b, is also included.

When installed to your hard drive, the system is easily expanded using Gslapt. You will be able to download and install a large number of additional programs available from our package repository.

The VectorLinux crew is proud to announce the final release of VL6.0-KDE-CLASSIC. This release is not about bleeding edge technology. On the other hand, it is not about nostalgia either. KDE 3.5.10 gets the job done. It is a mature and solid product with a large user base. Many of us are comfortable with it, and are not yet ready to leave it behind. We thought it only right to make a robust system with KDE 3.5.10 at the helm.

The classic text installer will quickly have you up and running with the expected KDE tools.
The Koffice suite is fast and suitable for everyday word processing,
spreadsheets and presentations. Multimedia capabilities have been enhanced with
the inclusion of VLC Media Player, Xine and the Mplayer application and plugin.
For Internet usage, Firefox is the default browser. The Pidgin multi-protocol Instant Messenger is an optional install. Web cameras are supported. Wireless networking is easily configured using Wicd. Dial-up is handled by the Chestnut dialer. The KDE game collection provides entertainment for the young and the young at heart.

After installation, your system is easily managed and extended using the VASM Control Center and the Gslapt Package Manager.

The Vector Linux team is happy to announce Vector Linux 6.0 Light LIVE.

This version is intended as a preview of the traditional installable release. It closely mirrors the original VL Light, but some packages have been added or upgraded, including the 2.6.27.29 kernel.

This is a great way to test Vector before committing to a hard drive install.
For us who already use it, our favorite OS is now portable.
Another practical use is as a live toolbox for troubleshooting and/or repair.
There is a boot option for using as a rescue disc for a previously installed system.
Re-mastering VL Live has been made easy for those who want their very own, personalized version.

cyrus-sasl: cyrus-sasl (Simple Authentication and Security Layer)cyrus-sasl:cyrus-sasl: This is the Cyrus SASL library. Cyrus SASL is used by mail programs cyrus-sasl: on the client or server side to provide authentication andcyrus-sasl: authorization services. See RFC 2222 for more information.cyrus-sasl:cyrus-sasl:cyrus-sasl:cyrus-sasl:cyrus-sasl:cyrus-sasl:

ruby: ruby (Interpreted object-oriented scripting language)ruby:ruby: Ruby is an interpreted scripting language for quick and easyruby: object-oriented programming. It has many features to process textruby: files and to do system management tasks (as in Perl). It is simple,ruby: straight-forward, and extensible.ruby:ruby: Visit the Ruby project online at http://www.ruby-lang.org/ruby:ruby:ruby:

udev (dynamic device directory system)
udev provides a dynamic device directory containing only the files
for the devices which are actually present. It creates or removes
device node files usually located in the /dev directory.
Kay Sievers is the udev maintainer.